Funds are requested to purchase an automated oligonucleotide synthesizer, a high-performance liquid chromatography system to purify the oligonucleotides and a spin-vac lyophilizer for concentration. This equipment will form the core equipment and start-up for a DNA synthesis facility to be managed by a competent technician under the direct supervision of Prof. Robert Letsinger, whose laboratory and scientific progeny have developed the greater part of the chemistry used in these syntheses; Dr. Letsinger has agreed to personally supervise the smooth operation of the facility and to advise the major user group. The user group and their coworkers intend to make use of the facility for investigations in molecular and cellular biology. In addition to the user group of independent investigators listed above, 24 graduate students, 15 postdoctoral fellows and 23 staff members in those research groups are involved in the projects. The DNA synthesis facility will also be available to other faculty in the three departments who may have occasional need for specific oligonucleotides. At the present time, there is no other equipment available for the synthesis of oligonucleotides at Northwestern University. The requested equipment will permit the execution of many molecular biological experiments where oligonucleotides are needed as probes, primers, in generation of specific mutants and for DNA reconstruction experiments. Such experiments are essential for understanding mechanisms of basic biology being studied in the laboratories of the major user group.